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Everywhere closed around here today but I bet someone turns up something! I'll probably post my Christmas haul in the 'Santa' thread later now the house has calmed down a bit I finally have some peace to play music without XBOX noise and teenage shouting in the background!

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First finds post of the year almost scuppered by a lack of batteries - but we got there - yaaay!!! - took a trip to Sifters Records this morning and Peter had put some new stock out - came away with the following and stayed within my 20 quid budget - get in!

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Pete Shelley - 'Homosapien' - The title track (particularly in it's 12" single form) is well known, one of Martin Rushent's best productions and has drifted in and out of fashion down the years - I'd always thought of it as a kind of 'glad to be gay' song, with 'homosapien' inferring 'homosexual', but listening again, this is entirely up to your own interpretation I think - and it really doesn't matter - it's a great song.
Mind you, I couldn't recall ever hearing the whole album - in truth it's a bit of a mixed bag with the odd little gem like 'Keats' Song', (if I recall correctly, the b side to the 'Homosapien' 7"), but the quality is generally a bit inconsistent - it's a bit frustrating since you can see that at the time, Pete had outgrown the musical straightjacket of punk, but seems here a little unsure of where he wanted to go as a solo artist.

Tangerine Dream - 'Phaedra' - It's 1974 and I'm sitting with my fellow 13 year old mate Glynn (the only other kid in school into 'weird' music) in the classroom waiting for the French teacher to arrive - it's one of our favourite classes, not because we're keen on tenses or conjugating verbs, but rather because our teacher is 22 years old, petite, extremely pretty and has a penchant for miniskirts. She arrives carrying a record bag which arouses the curiosity of the class - the girls want to know what the record is.

'Oh , you wouldn't have heard of it,' she tells them, 'It's a German group called Tangerine Dream.'

'Is it 'Phaedra'?', I ask.

'Yes', she replies, incredulous. 'How do you know about them?'

In truth, I didn't - I'd probably seen an ad for it in my brothers copy of 'Sounds', but this had raised the value of my stock with Miss, who had previously seen me only as the precocious teenage annoyance I was, and shortly after she loaned me the album.

I hadn't heard it in the intervening 41 years - I was never much of a 'prog' fan really and the Tangs weren't high on my list of priorities as I got older, but I'd always promised myself I'd buy a copy sometime - it was only when I found this US copy today that the opportunity arose. It hasn't blown me away, but side one (the title track) was quite a pleasant and relaxing experience - the rest I found a bit less gripping - I may have dozed off, in fact - I deliberately avoided reading the sleeve as I have an aversion to pretentious conceptual titles, but I think I can work with it...

...I probably received a kicking from my male classmates for my 'creepy' behaviour. The French teacher soon moved on anyway, although when I was 21 and she was 30, I did run into her in a nightclub (but that's another story....)

Isley Brothers - 'Forever Gold' - Simply one of the best single artist compilations ever, which I have bought on cassette, CD and now vinyl.

Dave Edmunds - 'Subtle As A Flying Mallet' - One of the best album titles ever, which has been fully incorporated and utilised in my own vocabulary. Amidst the general post-sixties comedown, there was a desire amongst some artists to get back to that state of musical innocence when pop was pure and simple, although Dave Edmunds' attention to detail in recreating the Wall of Sound, Everly Brothers harmonies and general Chuck Berry-ness probably went a bit beyond what was strictly necessary - this of course baffles modern listeners who find the whole thing a bit nonplussing, but you have to admire the extremely precise soundalike results achieved by Dave with the help of just a few Brinsley Scharzers, even if we'll never fully understand why... the version of 'Da Doo Ron Ron' is ridiculous....

The Rolling Stones - 'Get Off Of My Cloud' - sounds better on a 45....

Mike Berry - 'Don't You Think It's Time' - not one of Meeksville's best products...

Richard Barnes - 'Go North' - a chance punt, this turns out to be some mawkish and sentimental ballad of someone longing to return back home to the north - it does have one particular Northern ingredient - it's tripe...

Jimmy Reed - 3 Track EP - 'Shame, Shame, Shame' is the best thing I've bought on a 45 in a while. Superb.

Jaki Whitren - 'Give Her The Day' - This looked a really nice copy on casual inspection, but unfortunately combines a warp and a crack at one edge - luckily is it was only bought as a spare....

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'Phaedra' is a classic every home should have one and look at Pete Shelley with his 'Commodore PET' looking all suave. Apparently Wikipedia says the title track to that album was banned but does not explain why indeed requests 'citation' anyone know?

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Was 'Homosapien' actually banned by the Beeb though? I'd like to see some evidence...

'Homo superior in my interior' must be contrasted against 'but from the skin out I'm homo sapien too' - which to me just describes the way we as humans are sometimes a tad overconfident of our abilities - I don't think it's any sort of erm, literal description....

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A rare outing to the finds thread for me- I just don't get out. Mrs SK insisted we should go shopping so we went into the city! I picked up these two in an 'antiques emporium'.

Beaver and Krause 'All Good Men'. This has a Garrison Keillor 'Praire Home Companion' feel to it, but with Moogs. Real nice. Inside is a ticket stub for Thin Lizzy at the Hammersmith Odeon. I like the idea that maybe the buyer bought this on the way to the gig in 72. This track doesn't sound like my description but it's a jolly interesting one.

Lennie Tristano 'Lennie Tristano' UK issue on London American. Paid £12 for this but it's mint. Cover looks better in the flesh than in the photo and is actually VG+, no laminate peeling or anything. Seems people don't like his over analytical approach but it's never been a problem for me.

There's never anything in our local charities- same old Aled Jones/Harry Secombe tat. Classical records are getting harder to find these days so I was very pleased to find this for £1. Storming performances, of course.
This I picked up online for £3. It was just advertised as 'reggae single Get To Love'. It's Dennis Brown (I wrote on it after buying it) and it actually was VG+ as the seller had said.

"You don't want to kill the cash donkey"

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Right, after typing a load of stuff and Firefox crashing on me, I'm going to upload some new finds in a few separate posts - hope this isn't too much of a pain for people. Had a good few days with charity shop £1 buys and a bundle from my local record shop's £3 boxes. Here's the latter for starters:

Great to grab a decent copy of Cohen's New Skin for Old Ceremony (1974 CBS) - shamefully my first LC album - plus the second Glencoe album, a decent copy of Rising For The Moon and a Dictators 12" I used to own but somehow mislaid. The gambles were the Black Spirit album - an obscure German hard rock band I'd never heard of (great condition, this was a 1978 German pressing) and the Parchment album. I collect Xian folk/rock and wasn't sure if this would pass muster, but it was pretty decent. Definitely some keepers ...

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No Pain Mactheruss looks some interesting finds there. These aren't really finds, took advantage of the last few days of amazon prime and picked these two up for under twenty quid:

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Daft Punk is pretty self explanatory the other 'Whispered Visions by Emerald Web' is originally a tape only release mixing synths and flute to create what from sound clips I've heard a nice ambient noise. Reissued on 'Finders Keepers' so thought it must be something about it. Quite looking forward to relaxing out to this one.

Finally got some peace to listen to the 'Emerald Web' and enjoyed it immensely, slightly got that 'New Age' vibe you would expect but its not too overwhelming comparable to a late 70's early 80's 'Tangerine' Dream album but much more laid back and despite the blurb this sounds very analogue to me. Considering the source which I expect wasn't the best they've done not done a bad job with the sound either. I love odd ambient albums so this will be getting lots of air time from me.

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Standouts for me here were a decent copy of Gryphon's Raindance (1974), a nice copy of folky rock prog Fable (1973) and a minty stereo pressing of the Moody Blues' To Our Children's Children (1969). Have been comparitively late to the party on the Moodies, but really enjoyed this one. A definite keeper. Of the others, the Gary Numan is spoiled by sticking on one track (not really my genre to be honest, either) and Isotope is OK 70s jazz-rock but a bit noodly. Enjoyed Belafonte's 1964 release which shows a bit more breadth than much of his stuff I'd heard, and the Wild Angels LP is a 1970 Fifties rock n roll/rockabilly revival album which fans of that genre will lap up. Can't argue at a quid a pop.